A very full gallery tour - no Bienal void as yet...

I was wrong about the Bienal starting today. (If it is ready) it starts tomorrow. Nevertheless, showing up at Fundacio Bienal in Parque Ibirapuera after a leisurely stroll through the jardins punctuated by drawing couldn´t have worked out better. I managed to get myself onto a private tour of some of Sampa´s galleries, organised for press and other official representatives. Our guide was Debora, an artist and arts educator who lived in London a couple of years ago. Fortunately for me it was not well enough advertised, so I managed to tag along with a Cecilia, a Swedish woman who organises residencies and a curator from Santiago called Maria.

Our First stop was a gallery space in Centro Universitario Maria Antonia. Debora explained some history of the building to accompany photos of violent clashes outside the University in 1968. Like many cities in the world, Sao Paulo experienced student lead riots in 1968, only these were even more pertinent in the context of Brazil´s extreme military dictatorship at the time. The university building was home to the school of philosophy and sociology and was opposite a conservative, middle class educational institution and so violent protest ensued. These days many exhibitions, debates and lectures under the wide umbrella of the arts are held here. Also the University endeavours to offer many cheap or free courses to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it, though inevitably it is often only middle class students who have been able to reach this stage of their education.

Romulo Fialdini, Trabalhos em processo

The work shown at Centro Universitario Maria Antonia and at the adjacent Institututo de Arte Contemporanea was the most relevant I saw today. It was good to see an overview of 2oth century Brazilian art at the Pinoteca Galleries, particularly to see many works I had studied and to see them all together. Estacio Pinoteca also had an exhibition by the decorative Brazilian artist Beatriz Mihazes and a great show of contemporary Mexican art. It was interesting to discuss with Debora why Brazilian art is, in her words, more ´soft´and less politicised than the art of its Latin American neighbours though corruption and police violence is rife in the country. Could this be due to the ´happy´optimistic nature of Brazil´s people and the fact that much of the art that gets to be seen is institutionalised and very often sponsored by banks?

Beatriz Milhazes (through the windows of Estacio Pinoteca)

When we made it back to Parque Ibirapuera and the Fundacio de Bienal, I sneaked into the Bienal space. Though I had heard not so quiet whispers of disorganisation, I was still suprised to see an even emptier void than I had expected from `Ín living contact`. The exhibition looks as if it is opening next week, not tomorrow. I will reserve judgement until the opening... I hope it is ready.

This evening, though tired and unsure as to whether anymore images could fit into my brain, I attended the preview of Regina Silveria. Huge infectious insects had been plastered onto walls, floors, ceilings, decorative latrines and croquery in the upmarket gallery in Itaim. I was not sure about the work, but the champagne and canapes were lovely.